How To: Fondant Mustaches

Excuse me, but I mustache you a question.....

....would you like to make some fondant mustaches?

Fondant can be really intimidating to work with if you don't use it often or if you have never used it before. It can also be really frustrating when you want to cover an entire cake, spend a lifetime rolling it to the perfect thickness, and then....BOOM. The fondant cracks or tears when you lift it and you have to start all over again. 

Talk about obnoxious. 

Smaller fondant shapes, on the other hand, are really simple. And it is way cheaper to make your own fondant shapes (if you need large quantities) than to spend $5 a pop on 4-6 pre-made fondant shapes. Let's learn how to make them!

Materials Needed: 

A fondant rolling pin

Mustache cookie cutter

Black fondant

Thick edible black glitter

A small paintbrush

A cookie sheet

Parchment paper

Powdered sugar

STEP 1: Create a large, clean working space on your counter. Sprinkle a small handful of powdered sugar all over your work space. This is done to prevent the fondant from sticking, and you might need to sprinkle more as you work. 

STEP 2: Place your fondant in the center of your work space. If you have a large chunk of fondant, work with small pieces at a time. Keep the fondant you are not working with covered with a lightly damp towel to prevent it from getting too dry.

STEP 3: Sprinkle the top of your fondant with more powdered sugar. Then roll fondant until you reach desired thickness. It's hard for me to say exactly how thick. Not to thin, but not too thick, either. Gently rotate the fondant as you roll and sprinkle more powdered sugar when needed. 

STEP 4: Use your cookie cutter to cut mustaches out of your rolled fondant, and transfer the shapes to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut a few at a time, and then pause to move to step 5. 

STEP 5: Using a paintbrush (or your fingers), sprinkle/brush your mustaches with the black glitter. The bigger the flakes, the better. I discovered the really fine glitter dust or pearl dust does not look the best on these. Do this on the few you've cut out, then return to step 4. Repeat the process until you have as many mustaches as you want. 

STEP 6: Let the mustaches harden uncovered overnight. When you wake up the next morning, you should have adorable, hard, fondant mustaches to stick on top of your cakes & cupcakes! 

Cute, RIGHT?! I made these for my friend's 18th birthday party. She loved them, and so will all your friends. 

Much love, 

Successful Pinterest Recipes {Part 2}

You are all about to see just how obsessed I am with cupcakes by reading this post. 

On the bright side, you know all these cupcake recipes were successful and taste delicious, right?!

Cheesecake Strawberries (you can find a million recipes for this. all you need to do is fill a Ziplog bag with pre-made cheesecake filling and pipe it into a strawberry that's been cut open!)

Cinnamon Apple Chips by Delighted Momma

Raspberry Hot Chocolate Cupcakes by Your Cup of Cake

Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Frosting by Gen Foodie

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes by Pixelated Crumb (my friend made these!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes by Serious Eats

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes by The Girl Who Ate Everything

Honey Cupcakes from The Cake Blog

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

These cupcakes marked the end of a journey for my old boss at Cincinnati Magazine - where my journey will soon be coming to an end as well. 

Cupcakes have really become one of my favorite things to make when baking. I'm not sure why - I used to hate cake in all its forms, and now I suddenly enjoy it. Weird, isn't it? They are just so cute, fun. and festive - they are perfect for any occasion. 

I think I had mentioned before that Cincinnati Magazine really likes cupcakes and we often have them at work. Well, Jonah (my old boss, who now works for Outside Magazine in Santa Fe) just happens to like cupcakes, so Tess (the other intern) and I decided to make him some. Upon Tess's request, I whipped up these little beauties. We also made him trail mix - another of his favorites - for his trip to Santa Fe. Aren't we the greatest interns you've ever met? 

It's bittersweet, really. I honestly feel like I just started working here a few days ago, because time has flown so quickly. It's been a wonderful experience. My last day is next Friday - November 30, I believe. I was supposed to stay on until sometime in May 2013, but I truly feel that God is calling me to do other things. I think He is going to use me in big ways next semester in the lives of some people on Navigators on campus. If I wanted to focus my time and efforts on the people in Navs, I knew Cincinnati Magazine would have to go. I love it and I will miss working there, but better things are ahead of me.

So go ahead - have a cupcake for me. I apologize this isn't the most original of recipes - I'm basically telling you to use another pumpkin cupcake recipe and then just add pecans and bacon. Still, these are good. You could even make them with a box mix, if you wanted. To make the maple icing easier, you can use a can of icing and add maple extract or maple syrup. Even better - this recipe is perfect for the guys in your life because it contains bacon. Bacon. And yes, they are delicious!

Maple Bacon Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 recipe pumpkin cupcakes (I recommend this recipe from Food Network)
1 recipe maple icing (the recipe above has one!)
Chopped pecans
Bacon, thinly sliced

Directions: 
1. Make cupcakes as directed. Let cool.
2. Make icing as directed. Spread on top of cupcakes.
3. Sprinkle chopped pecans and bacon on top.
4. Enjoy!

WIAW #32: Free Cupcakes Edition!

Guys! Oh my goodness it has been SO LONG since I've participated in a WIAW! Let's fix that. I miss it.

Ever since day one of my job at Cincinnati Magazine, I have been overwhelmed with all the free food. Free tacos for lunch on my first day, free chinese for lunch at the staff meeting today, free donuts for breakfast, and free cupcakes at least once a week. And we all know cupcakes are virtually my favorite food. I consider them a food group all on their own.

Here we have a chocolate peanut butter cupcake, which was pretty good. Apparently one of the staff members loves to bake, and bring in some sweet item (I've noticed it's usually cupcakes) at least once a week for the staff.

Naturally, I think I'm going to fit right in. I plan on baking something for the staff and bringing it to work sometime soon!

This is an apple cinnamon cupcake that I had on Monday - so yummy! It had some sort of fresh apple filling inside the cupcake. Since it's now almost fall, and I love fall...and apples and pumpkins = fall, this was naturally delicious and definitely in season. She also brought red velvet, chocolate, and the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes pictured above.

This cupcake was from work today. My boss, Jonah - who we just found out is leaving us for a position at another magazine (I'M SO UPSET! He's the greatest boss I could ask for.) - went to his sister's wedding over the weekend and brought back some goodies. They were wrapped up in plastic and tied with ribbon - super cute! I believe this was a dark velvet cake, or some sort of chocolate...isn't the fondant cute? Loved it. This was my favorite cupcake so far. Jonah also mentioned he comes from a "cupcake obsessed family," because his aunt made chocolate cupcakes as well. I think I fit right into the Cincinnati Magazine staff, don't you?

I hope everyone is doing well. I'm still recovering from my breakup, but I am doing a heck of a lot better, I have to say. I've even heard rumors that a couple guys like me (wait, what?!), and I have a couple guys who have potential on my radar as well... pretty sweet, I gotta say :) Life is going well.

Much love to everyone, and talk to you soon!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Let me preface this recipe by telling you that it is EXTREMELY. Extremely. Good. I loved them, and I know you will too! Now, here is the bad thing: they are a bit time consuming, but if you are willing to have patience, they will turn out extremely well. They also use a LOT of Earth Balance. Oops. But super tasty!

You can garnish yours with vegan white chocolate chips and red sugar like I did (get festive for Christmas!) or simply garnish by sprinkling mini chocolate chips on the top!

We'll add some vintage flare to that picture!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Based on this recipe.
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar
4 flax eggs (4 T. ground flax + 8 T. water)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

For the filling:
4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Spread, at room temperature
6 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 ounces vegan sweetened condensed milk 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons almond milk
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For decoration:
Mini chocolate chips, vegan white chocolate chips, colored sugar...whatever you want!

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line cupcake pan with 24 liners. 

In a large bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together until creamy. Add the flax eggs and beat until combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Fill cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to finish cooling.

To make the filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about a half hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a small hole out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the almond milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

To assemble, simply top each cupcake after it has been filled with the icing. SO DELICIOUS!

What's your favorite way to use cookie dough?
Much love, 

Sugarless Orange Cupcakes with Blood Orange Reduction.

Sometimes I feel like I need a little bit of a detox from sugar and all the unhealthy foods I've been putting into my body. I try to eat healthfully most of the time, but recently, that has not been happening. It's been cupcake after candy bar after pie after...well, you get the idea.

Yesterday, I started a mini version of the Daniel Fast. This is something my friend and I will be doing for 21 days later in the school year, but for now, I want to test the waters. It's a spiritual fast, meant to bring you closer to God by limiting what you put into your body. It's a vegan diet where the only drink allowed is water and no additives or chemicals are allowed. No processed foods, sweeteners, or bread (or anything with leavening) are allowed either.

I think this will be great for me! It's a way to get my eating habits back on track and also develop a closer relationship with God. I'm not sure how long I will be doing this, but probably not for 21 days since that's what I'll be doing with Nikhil later this year, but I will go for a while. I will also be only eating one large meal day (since it is a fast, after all).

So far, everything has been going very well. I ate a large salad and some fruit yesterday for dinner. i'm unsure of what I'll be eating tonight, but I'll keep you posted.

A few months ago, I decided to try to give up only sugar for a while (it failed miserably...) and during that time, these delicious cupcakes were born! The only sweetener used is orange juice concentrate, which provides for a slightly sweet cupcake. The blood orange juice reduction adds for a bit more natural sweetness. Delicious.  These aren't exactly allowed on the Daniel fast, but regardless, they sure are tasty! My goal is to try making these again without the Earth Balance, and using 1/3 c. of oil instead. And really, to try this with my new cupcake recipe - since making these, I have perfected my vegan cupcake with a different recipe. (I added notes about making these substitutions after the original ingredients below)

Sugarless Orange Cupcakes
1/2 c. Earth Balance (or try 1/3 c. oil)
3/4 c. orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 c. flour
3 Ener-G egg replacers (powder) (or try 2 T. cornstarch)
1.5 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. milk substitute (or try curdling this by mixing it with 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar first)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. orange extract
1/4 t. salt
1 c. blood orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Mix in OJ concentrate, vanilla, extract, and milk.
2. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate this mixture into the liquids.
3. Scoop batter into a prepared cupcake pan (you should get about 12).
4. Bake for about 22 minutes or until golden brown. They may sink in the middle and be a bit crumbly.
5. Allow to cool. While cooling, place blood orange juice in a saucepan over medium heath and allow to boil until it has been reduced by half and has formed a sticky-sweet syrup. Brush syrup over cooled cupcakes and enjoy.

Much love,

Photos!

 Key Lime Cupcakes

 Oatmeal Raisin Cupcakes

 Baked Mac and Cheese from Spork Online

I made my own pickled Giardinelia...is that how you spell it? Pickled cauliflower, carrots, and hot peppers!

well then.

Superhero program.. I've given up on...because I love sugar But only for now!

I will try it again soon. But seeing as I am home for the holidays, I have been inventing and creating my own cupcakes...which have been turning out VERY successfully, I might add. Of course, I will have to make a few tweaks the next time around, but all is going well.

Tonight, my family and I are going to dinner at Aladdin's Eatery. The restaurant looks very vegan friendly, and I am really excited to try it out! Plus, I love ethnic foods, so I'll let you know how that goes!

Last night for dinner I made Baked Mac and Cheese, courtesy of Spork Online. If you haven't heard of this site, check it out! You can subscribe to their cooking classes online for about $8 a month, and it's totally worth it! The classes and the website is run by two vegan sisters.  I can say I have honestly learned more about my food just by watching their cooking shows than by reading books!

Soon I will post recipes for my Key Lime Cupcakes (filled with a key lime curd) and my Oatmeal Raisin Cupcakes (delicious, and they taste just like a cookie!). Stay tuned!